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Africa and the Challenges of Unipolar World: Sovereignty, Civil Society and Women’S Rights As Case Studies

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Africa and the Challenges of Unipolar World: Sovereignty, Civil Society and Women’S Rights As Case Studies African Journal of Political Science and International Relations Vol. 3 (8), pp. 320-340, August 2009 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJPSIR ISSN 1996-0832 © 2009 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Africa and the challenges of unipolar world: Sovereignty, civil society and women’s rights as case studies F. A. Olasupo Department of Local Government Studies, Faculty of Administration, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. E -mail: [email protected]. Tel.: +234-8034065576, +234-8073573729. Accepted 30 July, 2009 Close to two decades after the emergence of unipolar world, more than ample opportunities are provided to access the impact of this phenomenon on Africa. It emergence ushered in what is known today as “global village”. Happenings in any state are no longer the exclusive preserve of the ‘village’ or ‘hamlet’ concerned but that of the entire globe. Sovereign nations in Africa and indeed anywhere that were previously unchallengeable not least by external bodies but more importantly by the internal ones – civil societies, women groups among many other bodies – now have high degree of freedom to operate and connect one another locally, nationally and internationally to challenge despotic sovereigns. These are done in a way that the sovereigns in Africa, both traditional and modern, are powerless to do anything than to bow. The paper examines the ways and methodologies by which unipolar world and its allies in the African states, even if unwillingly, open up the political space for participation by all and sundry. Not least in their focus are the mechanisms by which these tyrants are challenged, corrected or possibly removed from office e.g. Sani Abacha and Charles Taylor. African women also regain their voices and actions. How these happen is what this paper sets out to examine. Key words: Sovereignty, traditional state, post-traditional state, traditional rulers, monarchy, civil society, women. INTRODUCTION Before the emergence of unipolar world, bi-polar world, countries are advancing economically. for decades, held Africa bifurcated into two rival camps After the fumbling, tumbling and crumbling of not only marked by economic and political ideologies. On the right communism as an ideology but also the disintegration of were capitalism and its political twin – democracy, Soviet Union as an octopus empire, bi-polar world and all bastioned by United States of America and her Western it stood for, collapsed in 1990. Emerging from the ashes allies. Communism and its authoritarian political institu- of communism and bi-polar world is unipolar world tions on the other hand, occupied the left and were cham- (championed by US and EU), capitalism, increased de- pioned by former USSR and her Eastern allies. Although mocratization etc. accelerated by increasing globalization attempt at forming tripartite world was made by some (kiely, 1998). While the policy of glasnost and perestroika third world countries to moderate the extreme positions of hastened the collapse of bi-polar world, globalization this bi-polar world, it failed (Akokpari, 1999). Despite the hastened emergence of unipolar world that is becoming failure, it had sent powerful signals of objections to the supra octopus, powerful and hegemonic. Leading this extremisms of the then two dominant world powers and hegemony is the United States of America (and her their allies. Although the formation of the nonaligned bloc Western capitalist system). failed in its mission of containing the excess of these two The opportunity does come for the Western capitalist blocs because it lacked economic and military might to be system to moderate if not to total overhauls the models independent of the two; it ignited economic and armed and practice of sovereignty in Africa. Nor is it long for the race in them as well. South Africa, India, Pakistan, North civil society organizations, women’s right groups and Korea to mention a few examples, not only possesses other critical groups in the African societies to grasp this atomic weapons; Malaysia, India and indeed most Asian opportunity to tackle poor governance in Africa. This 321 Afr. J. Pol. Sci. Int. Relat. issue of good governance, which virtually all African (iii) The Native Treasury. sovereigns (at the national and local levels) lacked, thus (iv) The Native Courts; composed of representatives of intertwined civil society groups, women’s right groups and the Native Administration (Olasupo, 2001). other disenchanted groups with United States and her Western allies. And this is made possible not just by Hitherto, these separations of powers, duties and func- international physical rendezvous of civil societies, tions were embodied in the absolute traditional authorities women’s right groups but more importantly by internet who were sovereigns of their various communities. Citing communication revolution. the example of Yoruba nation, the Ooni of Ife (the owner How they (leaders of unipolar world, civil societies and of Ife, also known as Olu Aye: ‘owner of the world’) is women’s right groups) set about confronting the old believed to be the successor to Oduduwa (Arole Oodua) notion of sovereignty (Westphalia model of sovereignty in the progenitor of Yoruba race. His ‘sovereignty’ in post- Africa) is the objective of this paper. traditional state is therefore located in the fact that not only is his successor to Oduduwa but more importantly the occupier of the throne at “the Source and the dawn of UNIPOLAR WORLD AND SOVEREIGNTY IN AFRICA civilization where the work of creation first began”. The Across the ages, the notion of sovereignty in Africa has ‘sovereignty’ of Alaafin of Oyo in the post-traditional state undergone changes, sometimes, violent ones. African on the other hand is located in the fact that his progenitor, continent is an incorporation of pre-colonial disparate em- Oranmiyan, was the greatest empire builder. Like the pires, kingdoms, caliphate and autonomous communities. British Empire that collapsed due to decolonization but These ancient societies, in the colonial days, were, replaced by Commonwealth of Nations after decoloni- according to Mazrui, enclosed in new states by the West zation, the collapse of Oyo Empire was also replaced by (Mazrui, 1994). For instance, the colonial powers had Commonwealth of Yoruba nations. enclosed the age-old Yoruba in the New Nigeria, the age- Due to awesome power of Oranmiyan the Yorubas of old Wolof in the new Senegal and the age-old Bangada in that epock (and of today) continue to refer to every the new Uganda. But as the exact number of these Alaafin as “Death almighty; the companion of the gods traditional political units cannot be easily determined so and the King who enthrones lesser kings (Iku Baba yeye; are their sizes, characters and forms are not uniform. Alase ekeji Orisa, Oba tii fi Oba je)” (Awoweso, 2009). While some are as large and populous as some modern However, in the rearranged sovereignty, post traditional African states, the sphere of activities of others hardly authorities took orders from and clear issues with the transcend a village area. However, in some of these pre- British Resident. This marked the lost of sovereignty by colonial African societies, power was centralized in the the traditional rulers; but it also marked the beginning of offices of the monarchs or traditional rulers while in modernizing traditional institutions in conformity with others it was dispersed to motley or minor units. But the modern political systems. most important thing is that during this period, the tradi- At independence, colonial powers transferred these tional authorities, regardless of the sizes of their domains, sovereignties to the nation-states into which the empires, exercised sovereign power over their subjects (Federal, kingdoms and caliphates had been forced. The nation- 1987). states’ sovereignties (Westphalia model of 1648) that At the inception of colonialism, these sovereign powers colonial powers created is radically different in contents were withdrawn from these traditional authorities and exercise from the ones traditional authorities exercised in withheld by the colonial powers and later transferred to the pre-colonial days. While executive, legislative and the emergent African leaders. While traditional leaders judicial functions were embodied and exercised by were no longer exercising sovereign powers during this traditional rulers in their various kingdoms, separation of period, they were part functionaries of the newly created powers – executive, legislature and judiciary – which traditional political units variously called Indirect Rule modern sovereignty emphasized locate them in coordi- system, Native Authority system or Anglo-African govern- nate but distinct institutions. After the departure of ments as Ayoade (1985) prefers to call it. It is so referred colonial authorities however, the Africans political leaders as Anglo-African government because it combines mo- who succeeded them appropriated the contents, embo- dernity with traditional political values, even today, at the died them in themselves and exercised them as such; local government level in South Africa and Nigeria in such that, before the advent of unipolar world, the three particular. In brief, the structure of indirect rule system arms of governments in African states existed in theory comprised of four main parts: and not in practice. The Westphalia concept of sovereignty developed from i) The British Resident who provided direction
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